A life simulation built on real-world data
Live one life, somewhere in the world.
Nobody chooses where they are born. Random Existence draws your country, your town and your family the way the world really does, from World Bank figures for 217 countries and territories. Then it hands you the years: school or work, marriage or not, stay or leave, and the luck nobody controls.
Free, in your browser, on a desktop or laptop computer. Nothing to install; sign up with your email to start.
- 217 countries and territories
- 164 jobs and careers
- 94 illnesses and conditions
- 82 topics explained in plain words
How it works
Born by the numbers, lived by you.
Every life starts with a roll of the world's dice and goes on through your choices. The game is a simulation, not a forecast: it shows the odds people really face, then lets you find out what you would do with them.
A birth like the world's
About one baby in six is born in India, and very few in Iceland. Your birthplace is drawn with the same odds, and so are your town, your household and how far its income goes there.
One year at a time
Each press of Live another year brings what might happen to someone in your place: a new sibling, a school place, a job offer, an illness, a flood, a windfall.
Choices that cost something
Pay for school or keep the money for food? Help your family or save for later? Every choice shows what you have and what you would have after it, and some come back years later.
Measured against the world
When your life ends, see how it compared: how long you lived against what was expected where you were born, what you learned and earned, and who you left behind.
What a life can hold
Everything that happens to real people, somewhere.
School and work
Primary school to university or trade school, if your family can afford it. Then 164 jobs, raises you can ask for, a business of your own, or a run at politics.
Money
A household budget in your country's currency: food, housing, spending and charity. Borrow, invest, buy a phone or a car, or let the game run the budget for you.
Health
Ninety-four illnesses and conditions, from malaria to heart disease, plus hunger, accidents, vaccination and COVID-19. The care you can get depends on where you live and what you can pay.
Family and friends
Fall in love, marry, divorce, have or adopt children, look after ageing parents, keep friends for decades and take in a pet. Your relatives live their own lives alongside yours.
Free time
Sport, music, reading, faith, volunteering or activism. Each life has only so many free hours, and how you spend them shapes your health, mind and happiness.
The wider world
Wars, earthquakes, floods and food crises; corruption, crime and human rights. And if home gets too hard, you can try to move abroad, legally or not.
How to play
Your first life in five steps.
See where you begin
Before each life, a short screen compares your birth country with the world. Read it, then press Begin this life.
Live a year
Press Live another year, or Space, to grow one year older. What happened to you and your family appears in the feed.
Answer decisions
Some years ask what you will do. Each option carries a short note on what it is likely to lead to, and the year carries on once you answer.
Act between years
Use the pages on the left: Education, Work, Money, Health, Relationships, Leisure, Move and Family. A dot marks a page worth a look.
Ask the game
Rest the pointer on any number or button to see what it means. Knowledge explains the terms in your story, and Menu → How to play has this guide.
Every life leaves a record
See what your life added up to.
When a life ends, the game writes a closing card for the person you were: when and where they lived, how they died, how far they got in school and work, the family and friends around them and what they left behind. Each line sits beside what was expected for someone born in the same place.
- Your lifespan against your country's life expectancy and the world's
- Where your household stood among the households of your country
- Look back over the whole story, or start again somewhere else
Money, health, family, work
The everyday business of staying alive.
Most of a life is not drama. It is making the money last to the end of the month, deciding whether a cough needs a doctor and choosing between a job and more school. The game keeps all of that in view, so every choice is made with the numbers in front of you.
- Cash, monthly balance, health and happiness always on screen
- Hover any number to see what it means and what moved it
- Prices, wages and incomes in your own country's currency
Learn as you play
A game that shows its working.
Explained as you go
Underlined words open a built-in knowledge base: 82 entries on health, money, schooling, careers, migration and the countries themselves, written in plain language.
Real figures, cited
Population, births, deaths, life expectancy, literacy, incomes and inequality come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators, and lifespans are checked against United Nations life tables. The Credits screen lists every source.
You set the limits
Real lives include illness, poverty, war, crime and abuse, and the game does not look away. The Issues screen turns whole topics off, for younger players, classrooms, or anyone who would rather not meet them.
Questions
Before you start.
Is the demo free?
Yes. Sign up with your email address inside the game and play as many lives as you like. We'll write to tell you when the full game is ready, and send other news only if you ask for it.
What do I need to play?
A desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date web browser. There is nothing to download or install. The game is not made for phones or small tablets yet.
Where does the data come from?
Mostly from the World Bank's World Development Indicators, published under CC BY 4.0, with lifespans calibrated to United Nations life tables. Where a recent figure is missing, the game keeps an older estimate. The Credits screen in the game lists each source and its years.
Is it a prediction of my life?
No. It is a simulation built from national figures and chance, so it shows the odds people face, not what will happen to anyone in particular. Some numbers, such as COVID-19 risks, are game assumptions and not medical advice.
Is it suitable for school?
It deals honestly with hard subjects, so we suggest it for ages 13 and up, and you need to be 13 or older to sign up. Teachers and parents can switch off topics such as abuse, crime, war or drugs in the Issues screen.
Where are my lives saved?
In your own browser, on your own computer. We do not see the lives you play. The privacy page explains what we do collect.
“I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach.”Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
Where will you be born this time?
The demo is free and runs in your browser. Sign up with your email inside the game, and we'll tell you when the full game is ready.
Play the free demo →